Sri Swami Satchidananda (“Sri Gurudev”)

Founder of Integral Yoga

Sri Gurudev was born in South India in 1914, and studied with many of India’s greatest saints including his own spiritual master, Sri Swami Sivananda.

Swami Satchidananda was one of the first Yoga masters to bring the classical Yoga tradition to the West after he was invited to America in 1966 by Pop artist icon Peter Max. His contributions to the world through Yoga are pioneering, innovative, and enduring. Integral Yoga is a founding member of Yoga Alliance®.

Sri Gurudev was a modern sage with great compassion, wisdom, and clarity. American youth embraced him because they were looking for a more permanent peace amid the chasm of confusion brought on by changing times.

To the hundreds of thousands gathered at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, he gave the official opening remarks in a message of peace, hope, and encouragement.

Swami Satchidananda’s contributions to Yoga in the West are vast. These are just a few milestones:

  • Created one of the first Yoga Teacher Training & Certification Programs

  • Initiated one of the first Yoga programs in prisons and drug rehab centers

  • Founded the first Yoga Magazine

  • Established one of the first residential Yoga ashrams

  • Created translation and commentary on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which became the top-selling edition of this Yoga classic.

He received many honors, including the U Thant Peace award, the Juliet Hollister Award, and the James P Morton Interfaith Award, which he received posthumously during his 2014 birth centennial.

Swami Satchidananda considered himself a world citizen and served on the advisory boards of numerous world peace and interfaith organizations. Widely recognized as one of the pioneers of the interfaith movement, he sponsored interfaith services and conferences for over 50 years.

Swami Satchidananda was inspired to create a permanent place where all people could come to realize their essential oneness. In 1986, he crystallized these ideas by building the Light Of Truth Universal Shrine (LOTUS) in Virginia, the first interfaith shrine to house altars for all of the world’s faiths. LOTUS India opened in 2014.

Sri Gurudev left his body in 2002.

The Woodstock Guru - Swami Satchidananda

On August 15, 1969, Swami Satchidananda was asked to give an opening address at the famed Woodstock Music Festival to set a tone of peace and harmony for what became one of the largest gatherings in festival history. This is the story of his arrival and talk at Woodstock. Produced by Alta Vida Productions in association with Integral Yoga Media.